Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
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KURUKSHETRA MAY 2019
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action of soil micro-organisms. • Crop Residue: There is a great potential
for utilization of crop residues/straw of
• Self- sufficiency in Nitrogen through the
some of the major crops.
use of legumes and biological nitrogen
fixation, as well as effective recycling of • About fifty percent of the crop residues are
organic materials including crop residues utilized as animal fed, the rest could be
and livestock manures. very well utilized for recycling of nutrients.
• Weed, disease and pest control by relying • Manure: The organic manure is derived
primarily on crop rotations, natural from biological sources like the plant,
predators, diversity, organic manuring, animal and human residues.
resistant varieties, and limited (preferably
minimal) thermal, biological and chemical • Organic manure acts in many ways in
adaptations, behavioral needs, and animal to the uptake of humic substances or its
housing, health, breeding and rearing. favorably the growth and yield of plants.
• Careful attention to the impact of the • Waste: Industrial Waste: Among the
farming system on the wider environment industrial byproducts, spent wash from
and the conservation of wildlife and distillery, molasses and press mud from
natural habitats. industry have good manure value. This
industrial waste manure can be used after
What are the components of Organic proper decomposition.
Farming for Sustainable Agriculture
Development? • Municipal and Sewage Waste:
Sewage sludge, particularly from
• Crop Rotation: It is a systematic
industrialized cities, is contaminated with
arrangement for the growing of various
heavy metals and these pose hazards to
crops in a more or less regular sequence
on the same land covering a period of two plants, animals and human beings.
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which are capable of mobilizing nutritive from about 234.5 million tons in 2008-09
elements from non-usable form to usable to about 218.2 million tons in 2009-10.
form through a biological process.
• Adding Green manures help in mobilizing
• Bio-Pesticide: Bio-pesticides are natural nutrients, enhancing growth promoting
plant products that belong to the substances, suppress soil borne pathogens
secondary metabolites, which include and support crops to out compete weed
thousands of alkaloids, terpenoids, and prevent soil erosion.
phenolics, and minor secondary
• Biodiversity Conservation:
chemicals.
Organic farming is now seen as a potential
• These substances have usually no known solution towards reducing the loss of
function in photosynthesis, growth or biodiversity.
other basic aspects of plant physiology.
• As organic farm practices are largely
• Vermicompost: Vermiculture has a intrinsic and enhance food resource,
component in biological farming, which is habitat heterogeneity (management of
found to be effective in enhancing soil field margins and non-crop habitats),
fertility and producing large numbers of prey-predation relationships, and reduce
agricultural crops. toxic influences (prohibited use of
chemical pesticides/ inorganic fertilizers),
• It is organic manure produced by the
these are expected to support species
activity of earthworms that generally live
vulnerable to otherwise conventional farm
in soil, eat biomass and excrete it in
practices.
digested form.
• Carbon sequestration: Knowledge of
2. NATURAL RESOURCE
C-storage relative to flux in agro-
MANAGEMENT AND BIO
ecosystems is essential for predictive
DIVERSITY CONSERVATION geosphere - biosphere modeling and for
What are the opportunities in Organic reducing the excess of atmospheric CO2
Farming? levels through C-sequestration.
• Soil fertility stability: The degraded • As per the IPCC (2007), the soil carbon
soil quality is an important constraint in
sequestration is cost effective and may
agricultural productivity in our country.
contribute to 89% of total C mitigation.
• Despite continuous use of synthetic
fertilizers, driven by soil quality • Our country with almost all major climatic
degradation and nutrient mining, the zones and range of land usage has vast
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• Compared to the carbon stored in a forest, farmers to risk. As a WTO signatory, the
the SOC in agricultural soils can effectively government is bound to open its economy
benefit food production and improve to the global market and thus, unable to
agricultural sustainability. protect the farmer's Interest in this
respect.
• Reduced energy dependence: The
conventional farm systems require more • Employment: The organic farming
overall energy inputs than do the system, being labor-intensive can help
organically managed systems. overcome rural employment.
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• Therefore, small farm holders in our gaining lot of importance in present day
country are apprehensive towards agriculture.
adopting organic farming.
What is the present status of Organic
• Major issues that need to be resolved to Farming?
encourage acceptance in small farm
• India holds a unique position among 172
holdings include access to certification,
countries practicing organic agriculture: it
lack of local market, cost-benefit
has 6,50,000 organic producers, 699
anomalies, lack of appropriate knowledge
processors, 669 exporters and 7,20,000
to RMPs and non-availability of organic
hectares under cultivation.
supplements.
• But, with merely 0.4 per cent of total
3. STATUS, POTENTIAL AND NEW agricultural land under organic
TECHNOLOGIES IN ORGANIC cultivation, the industry has a long journey
FARMING ahead.
Why Organic Farming?
• India produced around 1.35 million MT
• Enhancement and maintenance of system (2015-16) of certified organic products
productivity and resource quality is which includes all varieties of food
essential for sustainable agriculture. products.
• It is believed that organic farming ban • The production is not limited to the edible
solve many of these problems as this sector but also produces organic cotton
system is believed to maintain soil fiber, functional food products etc.
productivity and effectively control pest by
enhancing natural processes and cycles in • As per the latest available cross-country
• lt was felt that organic farming may solve organic producers in the world, but
all these problems and has been accounts for just 2.59 per cent (1.5 million
considered as one of the best options for hectares) of the total organic cultivation
• These are (i) Vermi compost (soil government by reducing the consumption
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• VAM (AM) fungi benefit plants by taken by the extension departments in
mobilizing the nutrients from a larger root demonstrating the benefits of inoculants
area. to farmers.
• Azolla not only fixes N but also add • Though mechanisms exist under Fertilizer
organic matter to the soil. Control Order (FCO L985) to looks after
the quality control of biofertilizers, the
• Biofertilizers not only provide nutrients to
persons involved in the quality control are
plants but also protect plants from plant
not versed with the proper tools and
diseases as they secrete many antibiotic
techniques of handling biofertilizers
compounds which suppress the growth of
samples.
disease-causing Pathogens.
What is Green Manuring?
• Besides providing nutrients and
• Green manuring - a Practice of ancient
suppressing diseases, biofertilizers also
origin- can be defined as a practice of
secrete some plant growth promoting
ploughing or turning into the soil
hormones like auxins and gibberellic acid
undecomposed green plant tissues grown
which makes plant healthy.
in-situ or cut and brought in for
• Many biofertilizers like VAM and PGPR incorporation for the purpose of
also help plants in avoiding water stress by improving physical structure as well as the
secreting some polysaccharide which helps fertility of the soil.
in soil aggregation and conserving
• In another way, green manuring is the
moisture for longer times.
practice of growing lush plants on the site
• Once the biofertilizers are established in into which you want to incorporate
the field after 2-3 years of continuous organic matter, then turning into the soil
application, the dose of biofertilizers may while it is still fresh.
be reduced.
• The plant material used in this way is
What are the constraints in this called green manure.
regard?
• Green manuring is usually done in the
• The foremost constraint in the
lean period available between the two
popularization of biofertilizers in the
main crops.
country is the timely supply of cultures in
remote corners of the country where • However it can be practiced in between
organic agriculture is practiced. crop rows also eg. in-situ green manuring
of Sunnhemp / Sesbaniain between maize
• Lack of knowledge of the farmers about
rows.
these biofertilizers and proper measures
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What are its advantages? 5. ROLE OF NABARD IN ORGANIC
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for their products. • A diverse crop system means a succession
of blooms that can feed insect populations
• One of the most persistent myths the
(and provide them with habitat) year-
studies consistently debunk is that organic
round.
systems are incapable of reaching the
same yields as conventional systems. • These beneficial insects help to keep down
populations of harmful insects, reducing
• After a transitional period of 3 to 5 years,
or eliminating the need for pesticides, and
organic systems can produce up to 95
providing pollination services to increase
percent of conventional yields.
harvest yields.
• Additionally, organic farming is less
• Genetic diversity on organic vegetable and
dependent on fossil fuels, expensive
seed farms acts as a well-endowed gene
inputs, and annual loans, making it less
bank for potential new varieties that will
vulnerable to financial market
be resilient against future environmental
fluctuations.
changes, insect populations, and diseases
• Organic is a low-waste system that a service that is essential to global food
emphasizes quality over quantity, meaning security with tasty food.
it uses less land for the same profit.
What is capital investment subsidy
• Conventional crop subsidies exacerbate scheme for commercial production
the problem, incentivizing farmers to grow units for organic/ biological inputs?
more than they can sell, which causes • The increasing and indiscriminate use of
excess pollution, overuse of resources, and synthetic fertilizers and pesticides and
food waste. deteriorating soil health and productivity
• Adding organic matter to the soil each is concerning people all over the world.
year (a foundational organic practice) • Growing awareness for safe and healthy
increases the soil’s ability to store carbon food has underlined the importance of
dioxide. organic farming, which is a holistic system
• Organic matter in the soil also increases based on the basic principle of minimizing
the soil's water holding capacity, reducing the use of external inputs and avoiding the
pressure on water resources and making use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.
organic farms more resilient to drought. • In view of these challenge, there is a need
• Since water costs money, drought tolerant in the country to augment the
infrastructure for production of quality
farming systems mean cheaper food
production over time. organic and biological inputs.
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• Accordingly, under National Project on • Making organic inputs, such as bio
Organic Farming a Capital Investment fertilizers, bio pesticides and fruit &
Subsidy Scheme for Commercial vegetable market waste compost available
Production Units for organic/biological and thereby generate better return for the
inputs has been introduced. produce.
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